


It's a Kind of Magic

by pandaspots



Series: Erejean Week 2015 [5]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Erejean Week 2015, M/M, literal cuteness, lots of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-03
Updated: 2015-04-03
Packaged: 2018-03-21 03:41:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3676023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pandaspots/pseuds/pandaspots
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Without any other option, Jean has to take his stepdaughter to work, with very cute and magical results.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's a Kind of Magic

**Author's Note:**

> tHEY JUST KEEP GETTING BIGGER AND BIGGER??????  
> this has literally no warnings, this is an apology for all the warnings yesterday  
> this is also late, because dad's looking for new kitchen furniture and needed input from two of the three people who will use it, aka my sister and i.  
> FORWARD WITH THIS DISGUSTINGLY CUTE THING.
> 
> title from the Queen album, because I asked mom about a song with magic in it, she looked offended, dug through her vinyls and shoved the thing in my face singing the song.

They moved in together just before Sevda turned two. She, of course, loved the nearly unrestricted access to Obelix, though the cat seemed slightly less than pleased at times. They started leaving her at the daycare, and soon she simply could. _Not. Stop. Talking._

Like when Jean gave her a coloring book, and she started making up stories for the characters. Or when Eren bought her a chicken toy and within a day she had name, family and preferences. Half of it was still a bit gibberish, like when you're listening to a FOB song for the first time (or even hundredth, depending on the song), but they still listened to her stories and nodded in the appropriate times. Eren had lectured Jean enough about the virtues of encouraging a child to do as they please, so long as it's not dangerous.

“Jean, I need you to take Sevda with you when you go to work.” Eren asked, work uniform on, and halfway out the door.

“Wait, what? Can't your mother have her?” He whined. The daycare sent a message the day before, saying they'd be closed for the day.

“Mom and dad are planning a trip. And by planning, I mean they're grabbing the car and going wherever Dolly Parton is playing a show.” He replied, grabbing his keys. “I already took her to a Fall Out Boy show, I'm not letting mom get her into the Parton way of life. I accept pop-punk trash because you can't hate what you are.”

Jean sighed as his boyfriend made his way out, and looked at Sevda. She was telling the cat not to chew on ChipChip (the toy chicken), while Obelix chewed on ChipChip's wing.

“No! Bad Belish! ChipChip is fwend!” She pushed the cat's face, making a cute frown.

“Hey, Sevda, let's put on some cute dress and go to work with Jean?”

It was a bright day, if a bit chilly. It was just enough for Jean to figure she was ready to go as long as she was wearing a woolen coat and woolen stockings. She was decked in a pink dress, pink coat, pink stockings and pink jelly shoes, with a pink headband. To match her clothes, she decided to take Oinker, the toy pig, with her. When they entered the bookstore, Marco nearly doubled over laughing.

“Wow, you guys move fast!”

“Ha, ha, very funny. This is Sevda, Eren's daughter. Sevda, say hello to Marco.”

She pretended to ignore him.

“Oh, okay, she's playing hard to get.” The freckled man shook his head, and grabbed a few smarties from the candy bowl by the check out. He got out from behind the counter, and kneeled in front of Sevda. “Hey, sweetheart. Do you want some candy?”

She ignored him even more pointedly. It was Jean's turn to laugh.

“You're losing your touch, dude. Getting stood up by a two-year-old, that's a new low.” He picked the girl up, and she hugged him tight, nearly strangling him. “Hey, no need to kill a man. Marco's a friend. Your dad knows him, it's okay.”

“Daddy fwend?” She asks, voice muffled by the stuffed pig.

“Yeah, daddy's friend.” Jean soothed her. She finally deigned to look around and peek at Marco.

“Hey, cutie. Did you come to work with us?” Marco asked, and she nodded, shyly. “Okay, then. Jean, the kids' section needs organizing again, I was gonna do it when you got here, but seeing as you got help, you do it.”

“Lazy ass. C'mon princess, let's put some books in their place.”

The children's section was a mess. Looked like someone with several small kids went through there and let them go unsupervised. Thankfully none of the books were damaged, but still it was a mighty mess. He told Sevda what to do, and she sat Oinker on one of the small chairs snd started handing him the books. Sometimes the books were jingly and she stopped to shake it, other times she'd start 'reading' the book, sitting on the ground. Everytime she stopped to read, she put Oinker beside her and started pointing things on the images, making up little stories about wishes and 'bacadabas'.

“Jan, it did boom!” She called him, pointing at a figure of a holographic magical sparkle.

“Nah, that's a pling.” He pointed at the image. “See, here's a fairy. Fairies do plings with their wands.”

She turned the page.

“It did pling and then there's a ribbit.” She told the pig. Jean sit down beside her, having finally put in place all the books. She turned the page again. “Pwetty pwincess kiss ribbit and pling.” She turns to the final page. “Pwincess find a fwend! Look, Jan, pwincess find a fwend!”

“I'm pretty sure that's her special friend, like your dad and I.” He comments.

“Nah.” She says, with finality. “Can Sheda got?”

Now, one thing that never ceased to amuse Jean was how Sevda asked for things. For one, how she said her own name was already squee-worthy. Another thing was that she looked at whoever she was asking right in the eyes, as if daring them to say no. Not that Jean would deny a book; Eren and he agreed on one thing, and that thing was that a kid could never have enough books.

“We gotta give it to Marco first, so I can pay. Then when we're going home we can take it and we can show it to daddy. Deal?” He asked, offering a hand to the girl.

She nodded, and they shook hands. Jean was pretty sure she didn't really understand what he just said, but it made him feel like a responsible parent-figure. Sevda obediently held his hand, but not before giving him custody of Oinker.

“Oh, hey. Surfacing from hell, I see. And what does little pink princess got there? Is it for me?” Marco asked, leaning from the counter, smiling.

“Up.” She 'requested' (though it sounded more like an order), and Jean sat the toy properly on the counter before picking her up so she could give Marco the book.

“Put that in a shelf for me, we're gonna take it.”

“Sure thing, boss. So, what was that one about?” He put the book on one of the empty shelves for reserved orders and turned again to smile at Sevda.

“Plings and ribbits and pwincess.” She replied, grabbing her pig.

“Yeah? No prince?”

“Nah.” She shook her head. She turned to look at Jean. “Hungwy.”

Jean checked his clock.

“Well, it is nearly lunch time. Let's close shop for lunch, then, I'm not making you stay here longer than normal, but I'm also not risking Eren's wrath by delaying his precious daughter's lunch.”

“Sure thing. You gonna go to Sasha's diner?” Marco grabbed his wallet and car keys, and Jean wrote down a 'lunch break' poster, while Sevda dangled her feet from the counter.

“Nah, Eren works there. He knows I'll ask for greasy shit and will revoke my babysitting privileges.” He taped the poster to the glass door and went to pick the girl up. “Gonna drive to the mall and get good ol' McDonald's. I can take her to pre-approved fast-food once a week. Gonna get her some Happy Meal.” As he said that, her face lit up.

“'appy meel!” And she started chanting it as if singing 'Happy Meal' would make one appear.

“Yeah, I'll leave you to it. She's already hyped for it. Don't you dare show up with her on tow when I'm near Mina or I'll murder you.” He warned, serious.

“Sure thing. Bring Sevda along when Eren and I meet you and Mina, just so you can hear Mina talking about babies all week.” Jean nodded.

“I'll freaking end you.”

Laughing, Jean went in the direction of his car, unlocking it and strapping Sevda to her chair. She still hadn't stopped her chant of 'Happy Meal'. It was starting to get cranky by then, as she got hungrier. She was almost crying when they finally arrived at the McDonald's.

“One Big Mac with large fries and large Coke--” He started ordering, but Sevda interrupted him.

“'appy meel!” She started bouncing on his arms, excitedly.

“Alright, demanding. And a Happy Meal with nuggets and small fries, and what juice do you want, Sevda?” He asked. Normally Eren ordered her grape juice, because he liked grape juice. But his daughter...

“Peesh!” She nodded furiously.

“So, Big Mac, large fries, large coke, Happy Meal with nuggets, small fries and peach juice. What toy do you want?” The cashier asked Jean.

“I don't know, can you show her?”

The cashier looked exasperated, and checked out the line (which was still rather small) before pulling out the girl toys. They were all Frozen 2 themed, and despite not having seen the movie, Sevda loved it. By now she's been in the McDonald's enough to know she could only have one.

“How about I pay while she chooses?” Jean suggested, and the cashier nodded. He handed over his card, using the opportunity to change arms and regain circulation on his poor, abused arm. As he typed his password in, and Sevda latched onto Queen Elsa, sighing happily 'fairy'.

“That's not a fairy, that's Queen Elsa.” The cashier corrected, and she glared. “Oookay, it's a fairy now. God, I've never been glared at this hard by a toddler. You can wait on the side for your order.”

“You should see her father glaring. She really got his worst traits.” Jean laughed.

He had to do some insane balancing exercises (and ultimately asking an employee for help) to get to the table.

“Can you get me a tall chair, please?” He asked the girl, who stared lovingly at the order counter before dragging the requested chair to his table. “Thank you so much.”

As soon as she was seated and with her Happy Meal in front of her, Sevda dug in. She munched away on a nugget while Jean transferred the contents of the standard cup to her sippy cup, kicking her tiny legs in content. Jean barely had time to bite into his Big Mac when his phone went off.

“I'm not gonna eat today...” He resigned himself as he picked up the call. “Hey, Eren.”

“ _Hey, Jean. Don't forget to feed Sevda.”_

“Uh, I think I lost her.” He deadpanned into the mic.

“ _Don't you dare utter these words to me, Kirstein. I'll fucking end you.”_

“Yeah, yeah, ok. We're already eating, though, her stomach was faster than your memory.” He picked at his fries, longing for his burger.

“ _Good. Are you stuffing her with junk food again? You know I don't want her eating too much of that garbage.”_

“Live a little, babe. She's having a wonderful time using french fries to slay the nugget evil dinos.” And sure enough, she was poking the nuggets with the longest french fry, muttering 'bad dino, bad!' “And now she's casting judgment upon the evil dinos and decapitating them.”

“ _Good. That should show them who's boss. But seriously, now. Did you get her juice, at least?”_

“Yes, dear. Let her choose even. You know what she got? Peach.”

“ _That's disgusting. She definitely got that from Reiner, not me.”_

“I love how everything bad she's got from this guy. Even if peach juice isn't a bad thing.” Jean shook his head. “Can I eat now?”

“ _Oh, sorry. I guess I'll call you later, I promised Sasha I'd do a double shift today. See you tonight.”_

“No worries. Love you.”

“Daddy?” Sevda looked up at that. “Daddy!” She made grabby hands at the phone.

“Your womb nugget requests an audience with you, don't hang up.” He passed the phone to the girl, who promptly yelled 'Daddy!' into the device.

“Jan got Sheda a book!” She reported, smiling. “Fairy book!” He envied that kid's ability to eat while talking, he thought as he bit on his Big Mac, finally. “Sheda helped Jan put books in place. Lotsa books. All 'bout fairies.” She nodded a few times. “Bye!” She handed the phone back to Jean. He looked at the screen to see the call has ended.

When he came back to the shop, he noticed something was weird. He quickly pinpointed the different thing: Marco was wearing a top hat.

“Bro. Bro, no.”

“Bro, yes.” Marco replied, grinning. “Hey, princess, wanna learn magic tricks?”

“No.” She told him, and as soon as Jean put her down, she headed back to the children's section, Oinker in tow.

“... Dude, that was ice cold.” He commented as Jean absolutely lost his shit. “Seriously, what's wrong with today's kids?”

“I don't know what you're talking about, she likes me well enough.”

The day was mostly uneventful. A few old ladies came in for their weekly book run, and absolutely loved Sevda, who spent most of the time behind Jean's legs. A group of teenagers entered the store looking for Wicca books, and while some paid, others lowkey started listening to Sevda telling stories to the pig, while going through another fairy tale book.

“What is that baby doing there alone?” A boy asked Marco, curious.

“It's the boss's boyfriend's kid. He had to bring her in because daycare was closed and her dad works at a diner. I'm positive she hates me.”

She chose that moment to toddle over to the counter, trying to hand Marco the book she was reading before.

“Maco! Shelv!” She circled the counter, book close to her chest.

“Did you ask Jean?” He admonished, hands on his hips.

“Shelv!” She repeated. Marco sighed and put the book next to the other she picked earlier.

“See what I mean? Coldest of cold shoulders. She doesn't even wanna see me pull out a bunny from my hat.” He said, miserable.

She halted from her way back to the kid's section and Oinker, and turned around.

“Bunny, bunny, bunny!” She bounced behind the counter again, pulling on Marco's jeans.

He beamed and took off his top hat, showing the bottom of it for her.

“See? No bunny in the hat. But what if I do this?” He put his hand inside the hat, and rummaged for a little. “Wait, that's not a bunny.” He said when he pulled a Hello Kitty hairpin. “Let's see, where did I put that bunny...” He wondered, poking at the inside. “A-ha!” He pulled out a fluffy keychain. “Oops, but where did the bunny go? Do you want to try, Sevda?” He offered the hat to her.

She looked a bit suspicious, but put her hand in the hat. All suspicion disappeared when she touched something, and she grabbed it, pulling out a plush bunny.

“Bunny!” She ran to the kid's section with the bunny, intent on presenting Oinker to his new little sister.

“Well, there it goes, I lost my hat rabbit.” Marco shook his head, disbelieving. “I didn't even get a thanks.” He put the stuff back in the hat, expression forlorn.

“Hey, man, for what is worth, I thought it was pretty swell.” The teen told him, sympathetic.

“I step out for five minutes and you lose all attempts at professionalism because you want Sevda to like you. Should I tell Mina she's got a rival?” Jean enters the store from his donut run, shaking his head. “'Hey, dude, listen, your fiance is ruthlessly trying to get in the good graces of my two year old stepdaughter. Yeah, it's pretty gross, he's pulling rabbits out of his hat and everything.'”

“You wouldn't dare.”

A ringing and clanging of plastic beads announced the girl's return. She stopped running when she saw Jean, and then she smiled.

“Jan, can Sheda got?”

Jean long forsaken any pretense of being anything more than a plaything in Sevda's hand.

“Of course. Give it to Marco.” He said, and she obediently told Marco to put it on the shelf. She ran back to Oinker and the newly baptized Hoppity, and Jean sighed. “What was the book she just brought in?”

“That one about making wands. By the way, besides The Princess and The Frog, she brought Cinderella too.”

“That's okay. As long as she likes it.” He said, fondly.

“You're starting to sound like a true parent, Jean, I'm proud of you.” Marco stretched to pat Jean's shoulder.

  
  


When Eren got home from his double shift, he saw Jean and Sevda on the table mixing something that made a considerably noise in one of Jean's decoration cauldrons.

"Are you guys making soup?" He asked, putting his keys into the key bowl and flopping on the couch, exhausted.

"Shh, don't disturb the witch. She's making plings." Jean stage-whispered, dead serious.

Eren shook his head, and figured they weren't doing anything dangerous.

"Can I disturb the assistant?" He requested, instead.

"You can."

"I take it your day went well." He yawned.

"Peachy. When she's done she'll tell you how her day went herself, she's got things to show you." He turned to the little girl in her high chair. "I think we can fill the wand with the plings now."

She lifted her spoon, and 'tasted' the potion.

"Plings gonna rest." She replied, and seemed to finally notice her father. "Daddy!"

"Oh, now she notices me." He pouted, but got up and sat on the other side of her tall chair. It seemed not to be enough, because she started chanting 'daddy' until Eren resigned and picked her up. "Happy now?" He asked, and she kissed his cheek sloppily.

“Jan got Sheda books!” She repeated, bouncing on Eren's arms. “An' Maco got Sheda a bunny!”

“What?” Eren got suspicious.

“So Marco was bummed because she didn't like him, so at lunch break he drove home, grabbed his magician top hat and when I was out for donuts he managed to get her to watch him do magic.” Jean explained. “Apparently he let her pull out the bunny from his hat and she thought she could keep the plushy, and he hadn't had the guts to get it back.”

“Daddy! Plings ready!” She started squirming, and Eren had to fight to keep her relatively still.

“Whoa, calm down, girl, stop kicking me!” He complained. “Daddy's tired, please.”

He passed her to Jean, who calmly went towards the table and put her in her high chair. Eren sat down sideways on the couch, watching.

“Jan, wand.” She asked, and he plucked the hollow, plastic stick from the side of the book. She lifted a spoonful of her plings, which turned out to be sparkly beads. Jean picked up the filler and put it to the open end of the wand. Sevda slowly spooned the plings into the wand, little by little. After five minutes of cautious wand filling, she nodded. “All plings in.” And Jean, the dutiful assistant, closed the wand. She ripped the toy from his hand and started shaking. The wand made a delightfully headache-inducing noise when shaked, and of course, Sevda loved it. “Pling, pling, pling!”

And as she shook it and sung, the oven dinged. Sevda's eyes went wide. Jean turned around, having completely forgotten about the pizza he put in the oven 20 minutes ago.

“Oh my god, Eren, she made pizza appear in the oven!” He said, playing into the game. “It's all warm and done!”

Eren quickly got with the program, jumping off the couch to look at the oven.

“Jesus Christ on a cracker, my daughter is a witch!” He said, amazed, while the girl giggled, shaking her wand.

“Peeza, peeza, peeza! Daddy, Sheda want peeza!” She said, shaking her wand, as if she thought waving it would make a slice appear in front of her.

“Don't even try to lie, she got that from you.” Jean warned as Eren opened his mouth to say something, taking the pizza out of the oven to slice it.

“That is so not what I was going to say.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> please leave kudos and comments! <3


End file.
